In the first three months of 2013, Arkansas saw a steady increase in the number of people receiving concealed-carry gun permits.
Through the end of March, the state had issued or renewed 12,148 concealed-carry permits, well over half the number issued in all of 2012, when 21,412 permits were issued. In March alone, 6,562 permits were issued or renewed.
The surge has come in the wake of the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 children and six adults dead, and the subsequent debate over whether gun-control measures or arming more people is the best way to blunt the threat of mass shootings.
The reality of the surge, though, is that Arkansas now has more people with permits to carry guns than ever before - 135,626 as ofMarch 28, according to the Arkansas State Police. And that, law enforcement and gun instructors say, is putting a premium on the quality of training those permit carriers receive.
“If you enroll in a karate class, and they teach you how to make a fist … well there’s a lot more to it than just making a fist,” said instructor Chuck Lange, a retired law-enforcement veteran of about 40 years who teachesin Scott. “Unless you’re going to spend a lot of time on the range and become very proficient [with a gun] , it’s going to take [more than the class.]
“Just because you have a gun doesn’t make you the winner. You’re going to have to know how to use it.”
The state requires training as part of the permitting process. The state police lay out the class material for concealed-carry license courses, but instructors have some leeway in what items to emphasize or add. The course, which is roughly five hours long, takes place mostly in a classroom setting and covers everything from loading a handgun to gun laws.
But when it comes to the live-fire round, state police don’t provide a uniform standard for qualification. So it’s up to the instructors to decide who qualifies, and depending on the class, students can qualify by hitting a target at a distance of anywhere from 3 yards to 15 yards. .
“The threshold that has to be met at the end of the day is can that applicant safely handle the weapon,” state police spokesman Bill Sadler said, adding that qualification is subjective.
There are about 500 instructors statewide, with nearly one-fifth of those in Pulaski County, according to state police records. Instructors have to first earn certification by the state or by the National Rifle Association and then must pass a state police-administered multiple-choice test.
As the need for gun instructors grows, more people than ever are applying to teach the classes. Once teaching applicants are registered as instructors, they’re given a list of mandated minimum standards that must be covered in a class, which state police can audit if concerns or complaints are registered, Sadler said. Only three instructors in the past couple of years have had their teaching licenses revoked or suspended because of range practices and a lack of familiarity with state laws, he said.
Rep. Bob Ballinger, who backed lowering the price of concealed-carry classes and allowing permit holders to carry weapons in church, said he’s heard of some great class experiences, but has also heard that some instructors may pop in a video and “call it enough.”
The Hindsville Republican said the shooting qualification shouldn’t be “a shooting contest,” but should instead show whether the student can control the weapon.
“If there are [instructors] who are being subjective and may not be [teaching] correctly, that may need to be corrected,” he said.
While applicants don’t get the same firearms training as sworn officers, Ballinger said he’d rather have armed residents with some training if a need arises.
“There is still a need for [officers] who are trained to defuse a situation,” Ballingersaid. “But it’s also nice to have some people with training to intercede when they aren’t around.”
Instructors said while nothing - not even a concealed-carry class - can fully prepare people to defend their lives, any bit of training can help give them the upper hand.
“Nothing can beat the unexpected,” instructor Terry Mullenax said. “But if you can get some preparation, some of it will come back and give you that little edge.”
With that in mind, some instructors are offering more involved training for their concealed-carry students.
Instructor Ed Monk said his students shoot 20 rounds from 7 yards away from a “chest-size” target. If students shoot 17 rounds within the target, they’ll pass that portion.
“Most self-defense shooting is at close range,” said the retired Army lieutenant colonel whose gun range in White Hall is called Last Resort. “[An attacker would] have to get within arm’s length to get to you.”
It doesn’t take a trained shooter to fire at that range, said Monk, who has been teaching the classes for more than a decade. He said he’s never had students unable to qualify in two tries, and only a handful even need that.
In Mullenax’s concealed-carry class, students shoot at 15 yards.
“If they can qualify at 15 [yards], then they can get it at the 3 and 7 [yards],” the former Shannon Hills police chief said. “I want the worstcase scenario.”
In his class, a student ran up and down a staircase before re-entering the classroom and trying to point a laser-equipped weapon at a light switch. Mullenax, who teaches statewide, explained that the student’s increased heart race from the exercise simulates stress, thus the student wouldn’t be able to hold the weapon steady.
Mullenax and Monk said their classes go beyond teaching how to safely and effectively fire a gun. They spend a good portion of their classes on how to decide when to use a gun.
“Shooting a gun is a simple biomechanical function,”Monk said. “What we think is most important is when are you justified to use a gun to defend your life. That’s a huge legal, moral and ethical thing.”
Mullenax practiced court testimony with his students and told them that anyone “doing the right thing” can still go to prison or jail because of it.
“You shoot to stop the threat,” he said. “You do not shoot to kill.”
Mullenax offered students a five-part “force continuum” to consider before even drawing a weapon, including being at the right place at the right time, giving verbal and visual commands, using an empty hand or soft hand to strike an attacker and using intermediate weapons. If all else fails, he said, there’s more justification to use deadly force.
“I’ve tried to give another avenue to keep a firearm out of the situation if possible,” he said. “If I can teach someone to use the least amount of force necessary to be safe, I’d rather do that with self-defense rather than drawing a weapon.”
Mullenax and Monk both emphasized ongoing training to practice drawing the weapon safely and discharging it if needed.
“If you don’t use it, you’re going to lose it,” Mullenax said. “When you’re put in that situation, you’ve lost [all of your training.] You think you’re in control of the weapon, but you’re not.”
The two instructors teach self-defense and advanced gun classes for a fee, but said only a few people take the advanced classes.
Mullenax said many who are requalifying for their concealed-carry licenses have told him that the last time they fired their guns was during the class. If students decide to take more classes, they’ll typically choose his self-defense classes, Mullenaxsaid, adding that people take the classes to feel safer.
Dana Logan, a White Hall resident who’s taken the concealed-carry class and two advanced classes, said she had kept her trusted revolver on her nightstand for many years before a man almost broke into her neighbor’s vehicle in 2011. The neighbor held the armed man off with his own weapon until police arrived, she said.
That moment prompted Logan and her husband to take Monk’s concealed-carry class, and once they completed it, they decided to take it a step further.
Logan said that though she’d owned a revolver for a long time, she’d never been adept with pistols - until she took the classes. The classes emphasized practice and training in real-life scenarios, and she said she could now draw her pistol if needed without stress taking over.
“They just teach you different things to think about,” Logan said. “It’s not just about not being a victim. I want to know all that I can know and be familiar with my gun and different techniques to defending myself as much as I can.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 15 on 04/21/2013